The journey to my topic
The request from Prof. Segalo for an essay about my journey to my research topic has brought back memories from several years ago, when I first started out on this journey.
About 7 years ago, I decided to start studying again. I re-did my 3rd year psychology and entered honours. One of the modules in honours was cognitive neuroscience which I absolutely lapped up. It was all interesting, but in our prescribed textbook, there was one paragraph that in passing in Chapter 13 on page 378, mentioned that in decision making, emotional signals can pre-empt a bad decision from taking place. The name Damasio was cited.
The idea that emotions can affect rational decisions caught my interest with the result that I read more on Damasio and the Somatic Markers Theory. After graduating, I met Professor Joubert of the Bureau of Market Research who introduced me to psychophysiological measurements and who allowed me to sit in on a workshop provided by the software manufacturer iMotions. They are the software manufacturers of the software used by the Bureau of Market Research that synchronises the various instruments such as eye-tracking, EEG and Galvanic skin response. I was hooked on the whole world of neuroscience and the possibilities it opened up
I read all of Damasio’s books and articles and put together a proposal for a Master’s dissertation with the title:
Using psychophysiological measures to explore the presence of somatic markers in decision making in a non-economic, low risk environment.
Last year, I applied and was accepted to the MARC programme. As I was on the verge of collecting my data, the MARC coordinators kindly allowed me to work on a possible doctorate proposal which I wish to submit when I have passed my Masters which I intend to complete this year. The original proposal I submitted was investigating sequential decision making and how a good or bad decision affects the following decision. Unfortunately, (or perhaps in retrospect – fortunately) I came across a recent article which addressed the same topic. My gap in knowledge was no longer a gap in knowledge! On further reading, I found that all the reading I had done was not in vain and have come up with a new topic which is related to both my Master’s topic and my previous proposal:
Exploring spatio-temporal neural Event Related Potential patterns in a complex, sequential, decision-making environment
This was later changed on the basis of feedback I received from my peers to:
Exploring Event Related Potential patterns in a chess environment
DAMASIO…
The impetus for my research topics came from Damasio. Antonio Damasio is a Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Southern California. Damasio’s research in neuroscience has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making